


Immortals

by Violentredroses



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: 5SOS - Freeform, F/M, starwars!5sos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:53:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5435504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violentredroses/pseuds/Violentredroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years after the Cold War between the Sith and the Jedi and the Rise of the Eternal Empire, all hope is lost. Those who remain try their best to live in peace, and teach the new generation growing around them. However, when a deep disturbance ripples through the Force, Master Jedi Luke Hemmings fears his greatest enemy and the Empire finest weapon has finally returned to redeem his Emperor's throne. Perhaps, maybe even bring peace to the galaxy again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Immortals

**Tython, Deep Core. 3629 BBY**

He could feel the warmth of the sun embrace him as he stepped into the fields that morning. The birds cawing in the trees around him and the crashing waterfall mingled together in the air. Luke saw the sun glistening off the river that flowed right in the middle of the old Jedi Temple's grounds, the evergreen grass that grew all around them and the trees that swayed in the breeze. Everything on Tython held beauty and grace. He understood why the ancient Jedi Council chose to rebuild their Order here where its origins began. He felt the Force flowly freely and plentiful here, undisturbed and tranquil in its energy. He breathed in the fresh air, feeling serene and at one with the world around him.

Yet, something felt off as well. Standing by the shuttle droid, waiting for Kira to finish counting the younglings as they exited the shuttle, a deep disturbance hit him right away. A deep ripple ran through the Force and it caused him to look to the east. His entire being shook in a single instant. His hand absentmindedly touched the lightsaber at his hip, but he had no real reason. Nothing could harm them on Tython. The Jedi could train and research in peace here. However, this disturbance bothered the Master greatly. He couldn’t explain it properly. It felt familiar to him. It made him sick to his stomach. Luke Hemmings hadn’t felt this way since…

He shook it off for now. He’d address it later.

“They’re ready for you, Luke,” Kira told him.

Kira Carsen had once been his apprentice, but since had become her own Master. Since the control of The Eternal Empire ten years ago, she ran communications and the technological research for the Jedi Council. The red haired girl, however, never declined aiding her former master with his young Jedi Initiates.

“All present and accounted for,” she smiled, handing him his datapad.

“Thank you, Kira. We won’t be long gone.”

“Luke…” he saw the concern in her face. The young woman came close to him, touching his arm delicately. “I felt something. I think it’s-“

“-Don’t worry,” he told her. He gave her a reassuring smile, “We don’t want to frighten the younglings.”

Green eyes looked over to the group of children near them, all chattering or looking around wondrously. She nodded, “I have to check the relay station here. I’ve been having lots of static and frequency issues,” she told him. “I’ll be in the communications room if you need me.”

“I just might. Keep your holocommunicator close,” he said. “Say goodbye to Master Carsen, Children.”

“Goodbye Master Carsen,” the children said in unison.

Kira beamed and waved them goodbye as she left them to their work.

"What will we be doing today, Master Hemmings?"

Luke focused on the children in front of him, pushing the feeling inside him away for the moment. Ever since coming to Tython, the Council charged Luke with training younglings ages 5 to 8 in the art of meditation, philosophy of the Jedi Code, and the History of the Jedi Order, as well as learning to balance their channel with the Force and control their grip. Grand Master Shan explained children their age have trouble controlling the Force within them. It was his job to help them relax their energy. Looking down he smiled at the smallest of the group, Kio, a Togruta child from Shili with her hollow horns connecting to prehensile head tails of her people. She stared up at him with blinking blue eyes, curious and innocent.

"Well, Kio," he began, "We'll be going through the mountain pass today to follow the trail of holoprojectors left behind by the Founders of the Jedi Order. We will sit and listen to the guidance and advice of each one before meditation time." He instantly noticed the unsettlement at his words. "I know it sounds boring, children, but I think you'll all find the Masters' words interesting-"

"-It's not that, Master," A human boy, Baellen, said. "It's..." the boy hesitated, looking to the others for help.

"It's the Mountain Man," Kio finished for him.

"The Mountain Man?" In all his years, Luke never heard of a Mountain Man living on Tython. Yes, a settlement of Twi'lek pilgrims recently developed near the Jedi Temple, but they were no threat to the Jedi or the younglings. They also lived east of the mountains in Kalikori Village, not in them. "Who is The Mountain Man?"

"They say he's an exiled Jedi Knight," Kio said.

"I heard he's a man who's lived there for centuries," Baellen added.

"No, you're wrong. He's not a man at all!" A blue Twi'lek girl named Rhila said.

"He's a big monster with eight eyes and sharp teeth who eats anybody who goes near his cave. If you go through the mountains at night, you can hear him growling!"

"He's not a monster! He's a man! That's why he's called the Mountain Man," Kio reasoned, hands on hips.

"They just want you to think that. He's a monster. He eats Jedi because he gains our energy from it."

"You're all dumb," Harlen grumbled. "There is no Mountain Man. He's a story that Kio made up."

"I didn't make it up," Kio retorted. "I saw him!"

"Children, children, children," he got down to one knee, "I can assure you I've been through the pass many times before. There is no Mountain Man there."

"But Master Hemmings, there is something in there!" Kio said. "I've seen him with my own eyes!"

"Oh no you haven't," Harlen scoffed.

"Yes I have! And he's not a monster. He's a real man."

"Well then," Luke said, "What does this Mountain Man look like?"

"He's real tall, and has dark skin like..." she paused for a thought, "Like copper or caramel. And he has black hair with some yellow in it. Oh, and he wears armor like the old soldiers of the Republic did! Only his is green and white, not all white. Sometimes he's wearing a white shirt and black pants, but I've seen him holding blaster pistols too!"

"Don't be stupid, Kio," Harlen said. "There is no Mountain Man. You're making it up!"

"Am not! He's real! I've seen him."

"Liar! You didn't see anything. You've never even been in the mountains!" Harlen shouted, stepping forward and narrowing his eyes at her. In a small shove, Kio stumbled backward, but was caught by Luke just in time.

"Harlen," Luke said sternly, sensing the boy's aggression stirring within him, "What did I tell you yesterday?"

Harlen sighed, hanging his head, "Anger is the path to the Dark Side, and the Dark Side is the path of the Sith."

"If we all started fighting amongst ourselves, where would the Jedi be? Hm? Apologize to Kio."

Harlen looked at the girl reluctantly, then said, "I'm sorry, Kio."

"Good," Luke looked to Kio. "Kio, do you think I would ever take you and the others somewhere dangerous?"

"No, Master," Kio said quickly, "But there's-"

"-The only things in the mountains are Manka Cats and Wingmaws, and we hardly ever see them around here anymore. There is no Mountain Man, and even if there was, I wouldn't let him within ten feet of any of you."  
  
"But Master-"

"-Listen Kio," he said finally, "If it makes you feel safer, you can walk with me, okay?"

The small Togurta nodded, and tentatively took his hand. "Follow me."

The description Kio gave weighed heavily on Luke's mind as he walked the younglings towards the entrance into the lower mountains and hills. This supposed 'Mountain Man' sounded strangely like a bounty hunter Luke met several years ago. Luke remembered him as if he’d seen him only yesterday. Calum Hood had the best blaster shot in the known galaxy. He ricochet shots off of walls and mirrors, killing up to four people with a single shot. He never missed. Not even once. Winner of The Great Hunt 3 times in a row, the assassin was infamous for his well known targets: Senators, slum lords, and even supposedly Sith and Jedi. Only the richest of the rich could afford Hood’s blaster expertise.

“Master?” Kio caught his attention as they made their way closer to the first holoprojector. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can,” he told her.

“When the Grand Masters say there’s a disturbance in the Force,” she began, “Do they mean like…like a feeling in your stomach?”

Luke looked down at her, seeing the curiosity and worry in her large eyes. “It sometimes feels that way…if the disturbance is strong enough. Why?”

“Ever since we arrived, I feel like something isn’t right. Does that mean the Force is trying to tell me something?”

Kio’s gift had always been her channel with the Force. Luke noticed it the most in her rather than the others. “I’ve felt the same,” he admitted to her, “I didn’t want to scare you or the others. When something like this happens, it means there’s been a shift in the Force or when a large group of people die at the same time. You’re too young to remember, but those Jedi who were away from the Jedi Temple on Courscant when the Sith attacked felt the devastation it brought from across the galaxy.”

“Does that mean somebody has died, Master?”

“Not this time. No. It’s something else this time.”

The group stopped at a holoprojector fixed into a stone platform, the first of four in their hike through the mountains. Luke turned to the young Jedi Initiates, and began his lesson.

“Can anyone here tell me who Master Brin was?” Luke asked them. Baellen rose his hand, “Yes, Baellen?”

“She was one of the founders of the Jedi Order,” he answered.

“Yes, good, but what was her focus exactly?” he looked around for a hand and chose Rhila. “Rhila?”

“She was the one who said the Jedi should focus on true justice.”

“Exactly,” Luke smiled. He turned on the holoprojector with a push of his button. In the blue and white light shining through the center, a woman stood in front of the children. “Master Cala Brinn believed that the Jedi Order should seek out the truth without favor or fear. She said all Jedi must put aside their emotions when faced with conflict in order to find true justice. Why is that? Anyone? Yes, Harlen.”

“Because Jedi must look outward and think of others, not of themselves.”

“Not just thinking of others. There’s something else. What is it?” He pointed at another girl in the group, Shiv.

“Because if we let our emotions control us, then the outcome we choose may not be the wisest or the most just decision.”

“Exactly.  How do we put aside these emotions, you ask? I-“

“-Well, I personally think the only form of true justice is a blaster to the face.”

The younglings whipped around to see him sitting upon a boulder, dressed in a white shirt with black pants and boots to match the jacket he wore. Calum Hood changed very little in the past ten years. His hair grew out a bit more, wildly curly from being in the wilderness, and he’d grown a scruff on his jaw. Luke’s entire body fell into attack mode. He stood in front of his students, and eyed the blaster pistol on Calum’s exposed hip.

“The Mountain Man,” Kio whispered.

“Pardon?” Calum stared at her curiously. “Mountain Man? I thought I’d have a much cooler nickname by now.”

“What do you want, Hood?” Luke asked him.

Calum’s brown eyes directed back at him, “You.” He hopped off the rock and smiled at him, “Master Jedi…I’m not here for a fight.”

“That pistol says otherwise,” he nodded to the weapon.

“Oh this? I was hunting Manka Cats,” he explained. “Listen, I have to talk to you. Privately. Now.”

Luke looked back to his students, and then back to Calum. “About?”

“Somebody we both used to know is walking and talking again,” he said. “I thought you ought to know since you were the one that killed him in the first place.”

“What?”

No. It couldn’t be true. Luke recalled the disturbance he felt upon entering the wilds, but he never fathomed it’d be him.

“Malziz…”

“Yep,” Calum nodded.

In life, the Sith called him Darth Malziz, Wrath of the Emperor Vitiate. His real name had been Michael Clifford, son of the Empire’s leading archaeologists. Luke remembered the golden blond hair he’d dyed red, and the Galactic Empire symbol he’d tattooed around his eye to show loyalty to his undying Empire. No being in the known galaxy could match the power Michael held. Grand Master Shan was even left impressed by the young man’s powers and relationship with the Force; even more so when Luke defeated him on Yavin Four.

“That can’t be,” Luke nearly whispered.

“Master?” Kio came to his side, worry filling her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Children, this is your Mountain Man,” he suddenly said. “Calum Hood. Calum, these are my students.”

“You’re a teacher now?” Calum smirked, looking at the children, “Times have been rough on everyone.”

“Are you a real bounty hunter?” Harlen asked, coming closer to Calum.

“Is that your pistol?” Baellen followed.

“I heard about you on Hutta!” Rhila cheered. “Is it true you can shoot a man in his eye at 30 yards?”

“What do Manka Cats taste like?” Shiv ran with the rest of the group.

The only one who wasn’t utterly fascinated by Calum was Kio, who instantly grasped for Luke’s hand again. He looked down at her and saw the fear in her eyes.

“Darth Malziz?” He heard her say softly. “THE Darth Malziz?”

“Yes, young one,” he nodded. “The very same.”

“But…But, he died, didn’t he Master? You killed him at the Battle of Taris. Master Tol Braga said the Jedi High Council sent you to cut him off from reaching the Sith Emperor at his space station, and you both met on Taris when the Empire invaded. He told me you killed him in duel combat. His death had been felt all across the galaxy.”

“And his rebirth has been felt too,” he said.

“Is it…Is…Is it true what they say about him? That he’s strong with the Force because of what happened when he was a baby? Because of what the Emperor did to him?”

“That’s merely a legend,” Luke told her. “Nobody but Malziz knows if it’s true or not.” He stood up straight and looked to the group circled around Calum’s legs. The man was all too pleased to have such attention. He’d been showcasing his pistol when Luke approached. “You’ll be coming with me to the Temple. You can get a shower, a bed and shave there. You’re lookin’ a little scruffy, Hood,” he jested.

“Hey, who’s scruffy?!”

“And then you’ll report with me to The High Council. They’ll want to hear what you have to say,” he said. He looked to the younglings, “As for you all, you’ll be going with Master Carsen for meditation.” They groaned at his news. “We’ll continue our lesson another time. I promise.”

He immediately contacted Kira as he made his way back towards the shuttle pad grounds. He informed her of who he’d found, and she seemed concerned.

“Does this mean…?” her question lead him back to his gut feeling.

“I don’t know what it means,” he said. “But it cannot be good.”


End file.
